


Ad Pacem

by SteveTrevorsStarship



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Co-Generals, Fluff, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Yavin 4, like oh my god, lots of love, no seriously this will give you a cavity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22631662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveTrevorsStarship/pseuds/SteveTrevorsStarship
Summary: Finn knows war and rebellion so far.He doesn’t know peace.(Yet.)
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 30
Kudos: 165





	Ad Pacem

**Author's Note:**

> So I do realize Aristotle is a dick but I kinda like this quote and this fic is vERY fluffy so have fun with that loves. I'm sick and depresso espresso so have fun with this crapshoot of a fic.

_ We make war that we may live in peace. _

_ -Aristotle _

Finn isn’t sure what to think of the world he lives in now.

It took him into his arms suddenly and without warning. It gripped onto his hand when he held his gun to the heads of civilians but  _ didn’t shoot _ . It stole him away when Phasma said  _ reconditioning  _ and all of a sudden there was a chorus of  _ I can fly anything  _ and  _ Finn  _ and then finally  _ so you’re with the Resistance?  _ It held him in his arms at Crait, when he watched Rose nearly die, when he  _ felt _ Rey die, and when Rey and Poe held him in his arms,  _ tight,  _ almost as though they were never going to let him go. 

Like the world he lives in isn’t going to let him go. 

He thinks he might be okay with that.

He likes the way he lives now. He likes this new world. He likes Rey and Rose and– well, Poe, but that’s an entirely different situation, isn’t it? The point is, he likes pretty much everything about this new life, sticky honey cakes and all. 

But here’s the thing:

Finn was raised in an Order. Taught nothing but to obey and to follow. Taught not to think for himself.  _ You are not your own person. You are FN-2187. There is someone out there who is named FN-2186. FN-2188. FN-2003. FN-2199. FN-2000. You are a number and you will never be anything else.  _

So to be able to think for himself– 

He’s been free for a year and a half, but that year and a half has been full of supporting Rey and Poe, leading troops, strategizing,  _ war _ . He hasn’t really had the time to make any other choices, just the ones that keep people alive.

Finn knows war and rebellion so far. 

He doesn’t know peace. 

(Yet.)

* * *

Shara Bey isn’t alive. 

She knows.

But she still sees her son, thirty and some, and she feels incredibly old. She sees her son with the man he loves (a gentle one that she greatly approves of, even if he used to be a ‘trooper) and she feels even older. 

She remembers what love felt like. She remembers nearly dying with Kes on Hoth. She remembers. 

But they’re both so– shy. She would even venture to say terrified. 

She supposes war will do that to you. 

She wonders what peace will do to them.

* * *

After a bit, he thinks he’s got it figured out. 

Peace is the feeling he gets when Poe rests his feet on Finn’s legs while reading reports off his datapads. Peace is the pilot’s steady laughter once he gets to Suralinda’s report and her more than sarcastic and less than apt descriptions. Peace is when they both fall asleep on the couch; Finn trying his best to stay awake and watch Poe’s soft breaths gently stir his messy black hair.

(When he tells Rey this, she smiles but says nothing.

_ That is not peace _ , she thinks.  _ There’s a blurred line between peace and–  _ ) 

Freedom is another concept he’s grown to like. Freedom to go out with Rey and close his eyes against the rain, to feel the Force flowing through him. Freedom to fly with Poe’s crazy ass, to laugh with him. Freedom to show compassion, to show mercy, to show emotion using a face that is no longer hidden by a white helmet. 

(He tells Poe this. 

The pilot gets a strange look on his face. Finn can’t quite place it, but he thinks it’s a mix of the fond look Rey gives him when he goes off on tangents and the look Poe gives him while casually flirting. It’s not a bad look, just… indescribable. 

Finn doesn’t think there’s a word for it. He is wrong.)

* * *

A year after Exegol, things are only mildly calm. 

Missions are still being run (an entire empire cannot be toppled in a day) and there’s growing confusion within the New Republic about what to do with a barely functioning government (“Isn’t that the only kind of government there is?” Poe asks one day. Finn has to remember not to laugh in front of Senators.)

When there’s finally time to stop and think, Finn isn’t quite sure what to do. He has a week off and nowhere to go. No home, nothing to do, nothing but his thoughts and Slips and Nines and Zeroes, Kylo Ren taking a saber to his back, the feeling of Rey dying,  _ the feeling of Rey dying _ – 

_ If this is peace, I don’t want it.  _

“Why don’t you come to Yavin IV with me?” Poe asks at the mess hall one day. Finn is sitting between him and Rey, who frowns in confusion. 

“Yavin IV? Both of us?” 

Poe chuckles lightly. “Yes, both of you.”

“That’s where your family lives, right?” Finn asks tentatively. Poe nods. 

“Yup.” 

Rey’s frown instantly turns into a face splitting grin. “Of course I’ll go to Yavin IV with you! Finn?”

Finn’s smile mimics hers when he replies, “Was there ever any doubt?” 

(Finn will forever deny the sappy look he gets on his face when Poe hugs him. 

Except for when Rey pulls him over later that night to tell him something and he says before she can get a word out, “I’m in love with him, I know. I can’t believe I just figured it out, but yeah, I know.” 

Rey raises her eyebrows at him and casts him an amused expression.

“I was just going to ask if you had seen Rose. But I’m glad you finally figured it out, Finn.”)

* * *

Kes Dameron is terrifying at first glance, but he is the kindest human being Finn has ever met. 

He’s tall and imposing at first glance. His black hair is spotted with grey. His beard is more salt and pepper than anything else. His skin is tan from tending to the Dameron farm. His voice is deep and gruff. 

His smile is wide and bright. He has a single dimple on his right cheek. He has crows feet around his eyes from years of laughter. He gathers Poe in a hug that looks mildly painful and then does the same to Rey and Finn, who both discover that the hug is not, in fact, painful. 

“His hugs are the best,” Poe says when Kes steps away and Finn blinks, mildly confused. “He’s like a giant teddy bear.” 

“Well, I have to make up for you somehow, shortie,” Kes chuckles deeply. “Good to meet you, Rey and Finn. Poe has told me a lot about you through his holovids.” 

* * *

Later, after they eat tamales and clean up the kitchen for Kes, the older man goes to lock up the farm for the night. Rey offers to help and Kes accepts gratefully, casting a not-so-subtle look at Poe and Finn before they leave. 

Finn tries not to think about how flustered Poe looks. 

He fails. 

“Hey, I need to–” 

“Buddy, we have to–” 

They both start and stop at the same time and then laugh at each other. Still chuckling lightly, Poe says to Finn, “You first.”

“I’m, uh– okay. Well. I don’t think there’s a very subtle way to say this,” Finn starts in a rush and then takes a deep breath. Poe’s brows furrow from worry and steps toward Finn. “So I think I’m just going to spit it out. I’m uh– I love you. As a not friend. What are those things called again? Um.”

For a quick second, it’s so silent that it would echo if a pin dropped. 

And then the world  _ bursts  _ into color. Poe throws his arms around Finn and hugs him. He buries his face in Finn’s neck and smiles, his hot breath sending a shiver down Finn’s spine.

When Poe pulls away, he keeps his arms around Finn and stays plastered to the front of his body. He gives Finn the brightest smile the younger man’s ever seen and says, “In case you didn’t notice, I love you too.” And then he kisses him and it’s not exactly great, Finn’s technique is messy and Poe is smiling the entire time but then Poe tilts his head to get the right angle and Finn puts his hand on his jaw– 

“Please don’t have sex in my kitchen, Poe.”

Finn breaks away from Poe in record time and would have tripped over himself in his haste to get away if Poe’s arms hadn’t been around him to break the fall. Finn is blushing and looking at his feet as if he were a teenager and Poe is giving him that smile again, the one that Finn couldn’t find a word for and then suddenly– 

_ Love _ . 

This isn’t peace, it’s  _ love  _ and Rey is right; sometimes the lines are blurred. 

_ Peace is just a situation. We sacrifice a lot for it but we do it because we can’t imagine a world without love, a world with only slavery and pain.  _

_ Love.  _

_ Oh my god, you love me. Why the kriff did I not see this before? _

“You two are disgusting. Stop getting lost in each other’s eyes and go find a room.” Rey looks wildly unamused when Finn turns to her. Poe laughs because Kes had slipped out of the room at some point, leaving his kitchen in the hands of Rey. 

“Come on,” Poe whispers in his ear and then leads him to his room. 

* * *

Shara Bey smiles. 

_ Yeah, they'll be fine. _


End file.
